Available Now - Low Tech Erosion Control Online Self Paced Course
Designing Ecological & Effective Landscapes
Helping urban and rural homesteaders create water retentive edible and medicinal ecosystems
Are you interested in cultivating a beautiful, edible and medicinal homestead
but don't know where to start?
I can help you
Through a consultation, we clarify opportunities and priorities for realizing your vision.
I begin with a Client Questionnaire and a remote assessment collecting maps and site information.
During a consultation, we use this information to brainstorm site features and design ideas.
In real-time, I draw these ideas on your site map to document them and stimulate further discussion.
Once complete you get a package of site information, design ideas, and next steps.
Following an initial consultation, I am available for ongoing consultation and coaching as your project evolves.
Do you want a site plan
and list of recommended actions to create it?
A Draft Concept Plan
provides just this!
Take your consultation to the next level with a Draft Concept Plan - A map and guide to creating your vision of abundance.
Permaculture homesteads evolve over many years. As they are lived in these ecosystems mature alongside their stewards, so a plan is best implemented in phases. This allows you to experience your ecosystem as you grow together.
Once we have a Draft Concept Plan, we clarify phases for it's realization. I then generate detailed drawings and materials lists, as needed, for each project or phase.
Consultation and coaching are available to you throughout the project. During and after each phase, we use feedback, reflection, and research to guide design revisions and clarify next steps.
I offer several online courses that run annually. These include:
&
Upon request, I also conduct
Hands-on Workshops, One-on One Coaching and Multimedia presentations to expand the application of Ecological Homesteading and Regenerative Land Stewardship.
I empower attendees with tools they can apply from home to watershed scale.
Experienced in many climates, I specialize in
Homestead development, Drip irrigation, Edible and Medicinal landscapes,
Horticulture, Water harvesting, Erosion control, and Soil Health.
"Neil's consultation exceeded the (already high) expectations I had. Our few hours together, and his follow-up reports and maps, taught me permaculture lessons that will last a lifetime. Neil's expert input during the design phase of my permaculture property saved countless hours (month? years?) of work down the road. And gave me a plan that I am stoked (and confident) to be implementing."
-Garrett M., Reno, NV
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Steppe One Farm and Nursery operations are integrated into my family's 1.3 acre Permaculture homestead. All our practices work to cultivate a thriving living soil and biodiverse ecosystem on the site. The compost, fertilizers and soil mix components we use are OMRI certified. We do not use chemical pesticides or fertilizers.
In the Nursery, I grow primarily edible, medicinal and native perennials, including culinary and medicinal herbs, pollinator plants, berries, and fruit trees. My focus is on useful plants that do well in the high desert climate of Reno, Nevada. Most of the plants available in the nursery are also grown on-site in the ground to test and prove their hardiness here. You can view the list of perennials I grow in my Propagation Spreadsheet on the Perennials tab and Fruits and Nuts tab.
If you are interested in locally grown plants, Please fill out my 2024 Nursery Survey where you can suggest plants you'd like me to grow.
The plants I grow are available to local Consulting and Design clients and at Reno Food Systems Park Farm Stand. Please follow Reno Food Systems on social media and/or subscribe to my newsletter for updates on when plants will be available there.
